Chapter 7
Disclaimer: All credit goes to George Lucas the creator of Star Wars
Obi-Wan was helpless to help the sight before him. Anakin lay on the floor with his arms covering his eyes and he was covered in his own blood. The sith master had just revealed himself to the Jedi and the clone troopers had attacked the temple upon his orders. Anakin had been the last line of defence to protect the Jedi before a huge fight could begin. Obi-Wan was stunned by how powerful Anakin had become. He had single handedly taken down every clone trooper that tried to attack the temple, only for a traitorous Jedi to stab him in the back, literally. The Jedi had been killed by Anakin's friends but now there was nothing that could be done, he either lived until the medi-droid got there, or he died. No Jedi healer was there to save him and the best that Obi-Wan could do was watch him. Anakin had appeared from a ship when the clones had tried to attack some younglings who were practising outside. The Jedi took the younglings inside but could not go to help Anakin as he had used the force to ray shield them all inside.
Obi-Wan had cursed Anakin's arrogance for years, but not as much as did now. Even more than the urge to curse Anakin's arrogance was the urge to make the Jedi who had betrayed him pay. Obi-Wan stormed up to the kneeling Jedi who had been cuffed and pulled down the hood of their cloak. It was Barris Offee.
Obi-Wan bolted upright from his bunk. He had fallen asleep no less than three hours ago and needed to speak with Master Yoda urgently. His dream had been so strange, he could hardly remember it now. The only thing he remembered was that Barris Offee had stabbed Anakin in the back with her lightsaber after he had been defending the Jedi. If the force was trying to tell him something, it was that Barris was on a dark path. Or, at least, she was about to be.
Obi-Wan quickly stood up and headed for Master Yoda's room, hoping that it was not to late to speak with him.
Padme could not help but worry, first there had been a report that Anakin had been kidnapped, now there had been a report of him leaving the Jedi order. She didnt know which one to believe. She had cried herself to sleep a few nights ago when news of Anakin's kidnapping had reached her. Then when she had been told that Anakin had left the Jedi order, she knew something had happened. Anakin getting kidnapped from the Jedi temple was hard enough to believe on its own, Anakin leaving the Jedi order meant that something had happened in his mind. Over and over again she had cursed him for never thinking things through. Artoo had come to Padme's apartment to tell her that Anakin had, in fact, left the Jedi order and escaped his kidnappers. Artoo also had a way of communicating with Anakin so there was the slightest chance that Anakin would contact her. Luckily for her, today was that day.
Artoo's communicator beeped and Padme's head shot up, could it be. An image of Anakin appeared from via hologram and demanded to speak with Padme. "Anakin!" Padme headed to the hologram quickly. "I was so worried. First the Jedi said that you had been kidnapped, then they said that you had left the Jedi order."
"Don't worry Padme, I'm fine. In fact, I'm more than fine. Please try to understand, but...I have left the Jedi order."
"What!"
"Padme, please, let me explain."
"Alright, you can try to explain this to me." Padme said with ice like coldness. This was not something she was going to let off easily. There was a war going on! Anakin couldnt just leave the Jedi without one of their best generals without a valid explanation.
"I was never kidnapped, Padme. I was left a message by a force user named Rick, who I met at the Jedi temple when it was in lock down. He offered me a new life on Thython were I could still train in the force, but with more advanced things. I was enrolled at a university for force users and told that there were no rules. So, whenever theres a holiday, I can come home to you. Padme, you know how much I have wanted for us to be together more often. I didnt tell the Jedi at first and they assumed that I had been kidnapped, when they found me on Thython I came up with a quick lie, well my headmaster did, for why I was there. After the few days that I had spent here I loved it so much already, and had so many attachments wth friends and Orion."
"Who's Orion?"
"He's my pet. I'll show you Padme, he's lovely. Anyways, I loved my life so much here and the added bonus of being able to go home to you whenever I was sick or had a holiday that I gave the council no choice but to let me stay, or I was leaving the order. They tried to find a way to get me to come back to Coruscant and return to the temple, but I refused every time. So they accepted the fact that I had left and offered me to come back any time I wanted. Padme, dont you see? We can be together now!"
"Anakin, thats not what worries me. Theres a war going on! You left the Jedi without one of their best generals and now they have to fight the war without you."
"Padme, it's not like that. I will fight against the sepratists, but not as a Jedi. I dont have to be, when I can use the force better than any Jedi I will be able to sense where the sepratist leaders and sith are. The war will be over within a week or so!"
"So you did this for power?"
"Padme, you know that I would never do that. I did this so I could be with you and so that I could make the galaxy a safer place for you. It's the truth Padme I give you my word."
"Do you promise?"
"Yes, of course I promise. I'll see you in two weeks."
"Isnt a two week term a little short?"
"It's only the quarter of the term. After every two weeks we can go back to our family for a week or so and then after the term is finished I can stay with you for a month!"
"But Anakin, what if i'm not here? I still have my duties to the senate?"
"Can you just think about this in a positive way, please?"
"Sorry Anakin, I've just been so worried about everything that I'm finding it hard to think positively."
"Well, now you have one less thing to be worried about. I'm not getting shot at."
"You have a very unique way of seeing things, Ani."
"One of the many things you love about me I'm sure." A voice in the background indicated another person was present.
"Anakin! If you dont hurry up I'm not saving you from one of Dylan and Austins bundles at the crack of dawn!"
"Sorry, Padme I have to go. I promise I'll see you soon. Good bye, I love you."
"I love you too, Ani. Good bye." With that the hologram ended leaving Padme more relieved and relaxed than she had been since the days before her duties to the senate and the people of Naboo. True, Anakin had left the Jedi order, but he had done it for all the right reasons. Padme had wanted to end a hologram conversation with Anakin that way for so long that it felt unreal to do so.
Artoo beeped a message to see if she was alright and Padme smiled at the little astromech. "I'm fine, Artoo. Just happy, happier than I've ever been." Artoo beeped a congratulatory message to her for being able to see Anakin so frequently. "Thanks, Artoo. I'm sure he'd love to see you as well." Artoo beeped in annoyance at how Anakin had left him behind and how he was going to have some explaining to do. Padme couldn't help but laugh and patted the droid on the top of his dome. "I'm sure I'd love to see that conversation Artoo. Remember to play nice though." Artoo beeped something that sounded like 'only if I feel like it' and Padme smiled some more.
Anakin ended his transmission with Padme and stared daggers at Arthur. "Did you have to interupt us?" Anakin clenched his jaw.
"Sorry, Ani. But I could see how your conversation was coming to an end and couldnt help but notice that she's your girlfriend." Arthur smirked.
"She is not!"
"Oh really? Then who is she? To you, that is."
"She's my..." I'm not a Jedi anymore, might as well come clean. "...wife."
"Wife!"
"Yes, alright? But you cant tell anyone, not until I'm ready. Okay?"
"Scouts promise" Arthur held up three fingers and did a salute.
"Oh, shut up." Anakin threw a pillow at Arthur who deflected it with the force and made it fall back into place at the head of Anakin's bed. Anakin gave Arthur another glare before standing up and walking with him to breakfast. The others had gone ahead since Anakin was taking so long. Arthur kept making smug remarks at how Anakin was too young to be married and Anakin would glare at him until he dropped the subject. But for some reason he managed to continue the conversation for a full four minutes.
When they arrived in the mess hall, which was not used for an army, they took the familiar route around the tables to reach their seats. The mess hall had the dark side table set side ways in front of the doors so that you had to walk around it to get to either the neutral dark, or neutral light side which were both vertically facing the light side table which was set in the same way as the dark side's table. If you looked at the tables from an aerial view they would look like an 'I' with a 3d middle line.
Anakin sat in between Callum and Leah, who had saved him a seat. They seemed to be getting along well so far. At least neither of them had tried to use the force on the other, that was a start. Whilst the three of them were in a deep conversation about their upcoming day which was dedicated to learning about the elements. Anakin had noticed that their timetable consisted of one day of different lessons, the a day of the elements, then a day of different lessons, then a day of the elements, and finally the last day of the week was dedicated to training for the end of year competitions. There were five competitions, Fighting, flying, intelligence, element control, and natural force ability. Anakin liked the sound of the flying competition, there was no way he could win the fighting competition without a lightsaber. But his Tutor, head of the neutral light side, had thought of this as well and had a special surprise for Anakin and the two friends she had noticed he spent most of his time with.
The hall fell silent when a long grey case was carried inside and placed on the table in front of Anakin, Callum and Leah. The dark side turned away and were not interested in what was inside whilst the other tables watching in interest. Anakin unclipped the case and the three of them opened it to reveal all of the components for building a lightsaber. More specifically, three lightsabers.
"No way. They want us to have sabers as well?" Callum whispered. Anakin suspected it was the best he could manage. There were three lightsaber crystals in the case. A blue one and two green ones. Anakin picked up the blue one to survey it and the others picked up the green ones.
"Seems fitting, dont you think? That our side wants to win the competitions more than anything?" Leah stated curiously.
"Well, we certainly have the most competitive people in Imperus. It's like we were made to win this year." Callum commented.
"Really, why?" Anakin asked out of curiousity.
"You cant see it, can you?" Leah questioned sarcastically. All the way down the table people were watching with smug looks on their faces, they all knew what Anakin didnt.
"No, what? What is it?" Anakin asked, eager to know what they all did.
"You're the best at fighting with a lightsaber on our side. That's why we have this. Fighting competitions consist of a team of three from each side, thats why we have this as well. You're the best flyer in the galaxy and, since you were born from the force, your natural ability with it is going to be much better than any other person in the universe." Leah explained.
"And your the smartest person I know, so we'll probably win the knowledge competition." Anakin added.
"I'm not that smart." Leah said, blushing.
"Yes you are! Who else could have done a two page long essay in five minutes, huh?" Callum asked all the people on the table. They all smiled at Leah and commented on her brilliance and intellect. Anakin laughed and realised that they only needed someone who could win the elemental contest and their side would be reigning champions of the year.
"Hang on. We've got four competitions down, we just need the elemental one now." Anakin looked at Callum who shook his head fiercly. "Dont deny it, Callum. Theres three of us, who are obviously meant to be one of the teams for our side, and you didnt think you were just here for lightsaber fighting did you?"
"I havent even had an element lesson yet!" Callum exclaimed.
"Well, after we have one, you can show just how brilliant you are. If you doubt yourself to make yourself fail, then I will make sure that you are tutored on arithmatic by your snooty cousin who's on the light side."
"What makes you think someone from the light side will listen to you?"
"He's the chosen one, you idiot." Lee-Eka chuckled and ruffled Callum's hair. "Come on you three, your the best hope our side has had for years. And we have the best teams in the galaxy, but the dark side cheats, so does the neutral dark side and the light side, well, they are the masters of knowledge. But nothing compared to Leah we're sure. Even if you dont win, they'll be so busy with you that the other teams can wipe them out from behind."
"So we're either decoys or victors?" Anakin asked.
"Basically, yes." Eka-Lee confirmed.
"Joy." Anakin muttered. "Wait, how are we going to have time to make these? We have lessons dont we?"
"Oh, team's on our side miss lessons when their doing something to help with the competitions. Personally, I always make sure its arithmatic that I miss." The blonde haired man in between Lee-Eka and Eka-Lee said with a chuckle.
"Right, then we should probably go and work on these now then?"
"Yep. Better hurry, before anyone from the dark side finishes eating and tries to rob you."
They didnt need any more motivation and quickly shoved the crystals into their pockets and locked the case back up. They then stood up and left to get to their dormitory before anyone else had finished eating. But when they were on the corridors to get to the boys dormitory, Anakin sensed something was amiss and stopped walking.
"Ani? What is it?" Leah asked.
"The entrance to the dormitory has changed, for both of them...they must have added the new room!" Anakin exclaimed.
"Thats great! But where the kriff is the entrance." Callum said bluntly.
"Follow me." Anakin led them down a different corridor and found a door that hadnt been there before. Anakin opened it and gaped at what he saw. There was a fire place against one wall with two couches and padded chairs around it with a rug in the center. Somewhere for Orion to sit. There were painting hung on the walls. A chandelier hanging from the ceiling in the center of ther room, bookshelves that led from the floor to the ceiling and took up an entire wall and a stash of holovids and a screen to watch them on set up in a corner. There was enough room for at least ten people and there was barely twenty people on Anakin's side in the year that they were in.
"Bloody...this is amazing!" Callum caught himself before cursing when Leah shot him a dark look.
"It's brilliant!" Anakin exclaimed. They walked up to the boy's dormitory and set the case down on the table in the middle of the room. Leah's attention was drawn straight to Orion.
"He's so cute." Leah commented as she walked towards Orion. "Who's is he?"
"He's mine." Anakin stated proudly. "I named him Orion, you can hold him if you like? I dont mind what you do as long as it dosent hurt him, put him in danger or take him out of the entire dormitory."
"Well, the girls are going to love him. They'll probably be teaching him to walk and talk the moment they see him."
"Did you say...talk?"
"Yes. Force sensitive creatures can develop a voice box if they are taught to speak from an early age."
"Well, I would like to know what he's thinking seeing as he's always sleeping and only wakes up to eat."
"I'll show him to the others when they get back after the days lessons. I doubt homework will be the first thing on their minds when they see him."
"And its not the first thing on ours. Lightsabers?...Hello." Callum changed the subject. Leah frowned at him and came back over to the table.
"Well, I guess we've already chosen our crystals at breakfast. Theres three bags filled with three components needed to make a lightsaber, nice to know they've chosen our designs for us."
"Not if I can help it. I always find a way to change the design to a lightsaber, be it engraving or grips." Anakin assured him. "We'd better get cracking if we want to have any lessons tommorow."
"No way mate. We have astronomy tommorow and I am not studying star signs for homework." Callum complained.
"Well it does take a long while to make a lightsaber. Let's get started."
